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5.0 from 21 votes

Mole Amarillo

This is my rendition of mole amarillo, made as true to form as I can. I offer some substitutions for the harder to find ingredients. Serve this with shredded chicken or other poultry, pork or fish.

Prep Time
1 hr
Cook Time
mins
Servings: 8
Calories: 103 kcal
Course: Main Course , Condiments
Cuisine: Mexican

Ingredients

  • 2 to 3 ounces dried chiles, stemmed and seeded (see headnotes for types)
  • 1 white onion, quartered
  • 5 cloves garlic, unpeeled
  • 3 tablespoons tomatillo puree, about 4 large tomatillos
  • 1 pint tomato sauce, fire-roasted if possible
  • 10 allspice berries, or 1/2 teaspoon ground
  • 8 whole cloves, or 1/4 teaspoon ground
  • 20 peppercorns, or 1/2 teaspoon ground
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 3 cups chicken stock or water
  • 3 tablespoons lard
  • masa for thickening (optional)

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. Start by putting the chiles in a bowl and pouring boiling water over them. Cover the bowl to let them rehydrate, about 20 to 30 minutes. Don't let them soak more than 1 hour or they can become bitter.
  2. Meanwhile, get a comal hot, or a heavy frying pan if you don't have a skillet, and char the onion and garlic. If you are using whole tomatillos because you don't have puree on hand, husk and char them, too. Ditto for tomatoes if you don't have tomato sauce. You will need about 8 Roma tomatoes, halved and charred, to equal about 1 pint of fire-roasted puree.
  3. Once they've been charred, put the tomatillos in a blender. Roughly chop the onion and peel the garlic, then put those in the blender, too. If you've hand roasted the tomatoes, they go into the blender as well. If not, pour in the premade tomato sauce.
  4. As the vegetables are charring and the chiles are soaking, toast the allspice, cloves and peppercorns in a hot, dry skillet until you can smell them. Move to a mortar and pestle with the salt. Crush the bay leaf as small as you can with your hands, then put it in the mortar. Add the ground cumin, cinnamon and oregano. Grind all of this to a powder and add to the blender. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, you can use a spice grinder.
  5. Add the rehydrated chiles to the blender. Taste a little of the soaking water: If it's not bitter, add 1 cup. If it is bitter, toss it. Either way add 2 cups of the chicken stock; you'll want the third cup of stock if the soaking water was bitter. Puree this.
  6. Optional step: Pour the sauce into a fine-meshed strainer set over a bowl and push it through with a rubber spatula, discarding the solids that won't go through the strainer. This reduces bitterness and makes a smoother sauce.
  7. Get the lard hot in a sauce pot set over medium-high heat. Pour the sauce in all at once. It will spatter, so start stirring it vigorously to incorporate the fat. It should absorb it. Drop the heat to low and stir until the sauce is just barely bubbling.
  8. Optional step: If the sauce is thinner than you want it, whisk in masa -- the actual dough, not masa harina -- a knob at a time until it is as thick as you want it. If you only have masa harina, follow the directions on the package to hydrate if before adding to the sauce.
  9. Don't let the mole boil, but heat it through about 5 to 10 minutes. Keep it warm, not simmering, for service.

Nutrition Information

Calories 103kcal (5%) Carbohydrates 12g (4%) Protein 4g (8%) Fat 5g (8%) Saturated Fat 3g (15%) Cholesterol 11mg (4%) Sodium 964mg (40%) Potassium 453mg (13%) Fiber 4g (16%) Sugar 6g (12%) Vitamin A 2279IU (46%) Vitamin C 9mg (10%) Calcium 31mg (3%) Iron 2mg (11%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 8Serving

Amount Per Serving

Calories 103

% Daily Value*

Calories 103kcal 5%
Carbohydrates 12g 4%
Protein 4g 8%
Fat 5g 8%
Saturated Fat 3g 15%
Cholesterol 11mg 4%
Sodium 964mg 40%
Potassium 453mg 10%
Fiber 4g 16%
Sugar 6g 12%
Vitamin A 2279IU 46%
Vitamin C 9mg 10%
Calcium 31mg 3%
Iron 2mg 11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.